Newsletter: 15th January 2021
Posted on January 15, 2021 | By Mr Cole
Laptops On Their Way!
We have been allocated 5 Chromebooks from the DfE to support Remote Learning, and from our Facebook Appeal last week, a further 6 Laptops have been donated by the local community and are being prepared for us by former pupil Baz Meeson. We are hoping that all 11 devices will be going out to families early next week to support your child whilst learning from home. Families who are going to receive them have already been contacted by us, but if your children are struggling with trying to learn via a phone, or sharing a device with siblings, please get in touch and we can try to get some more from our local community.
Remote Learning
I just wanted to take some time to reflect on how Remote Learning is going for the 52% of children who are using it to access school. As you will remember, at the end of the first lockdown I asked all parents to feed back about their experience of Remote Learning and we used that information, together with new policy from the DfE to put together our offer this time around. We are trying very hard to strike a balance between what is required and what is manageable for families sharing devices and working with poor internet connectivity, juggling with working from home and managing children’s learning at different levels. In other words, there are some things this time round we can be flexible about, and some things which we can’t. I am hopeful that this time around you have felt that our provision is more structured and your child is having more face to face contact with their teacher and their class. I also hope that you have noticed that the work your child is doing at home is very close to what is being taught in the classroom too. With so many children in school at the moment, there is obviously a limit to the “live” support we’re able to offer, but we are confident that we have the balance pretty much in the right place.
Please send any feedback to your child’s teacher. It is a very difficult time for them at the moment as well and any comments, particularly positive or constructive ones, will really help them gauge how well things are going from your point of view.
Thank you for everything you are doing at home to keep the school-away-from-school running. These are desperate times and certainly not what we’d hoped for for 2021. We are still hopeful for a full reopening after half term, but in the meantime please let us know if we can help improve things for your children in any way.
Thank you for sending in photos of your Remote Learning in progress… here are the pictures from this week…
If you have photos for next week’s Newsletter please send them to me before Thursday evening to be included next Friday. Thanks.
Free School Meals
The constantly changing situation with Free Schooll Meals for remote learners is very confusing. At the moment we are sending out food parcels but the Government is in the process of re-instigating the voucher scheme that was used throughout the summer term (which is different to the one you would have had at Christmas). We cannot register for your vouchers until next Monday and at that point we will know if we will be able to move to vouchers straight away or whether there will be one more week of parcels before the switch-over takes place. We will let you know as soon as we know. When they do appear, the vouchers will be the type that you can redeem in a wider selection of supermarkets, such as Aldi and Lidl, rather than the narrow choice you had at Christmas. Please remember if your child is attending school at the moment you won’t be entitled to vouchers as your child can take their meals here at school. You may, however, be entitled to vouchers over half term if the Government makes them available for that time.
Bude Residential
Thank you to those parents who came to the online meeting about the Year 6 resiential in the summer, or who have asked for a copy of a recording of the meeting. If you were unable to attend and you would like to watch the presentation with your child, please drop me an email and I will send you the link. It contains all the information you need to know about the trip, and will help you decide if you want your child to take part (if it goes ahead) before the booking deadline of the end of this month.
Sunflowers
We have now followed government guidance and have reopened Preschool for all children regardless of critical worker status. As were were expecting, the number of children wanting places has dropped significantly and so we have reduced our staffing accordingly. This means there is no longer an opportunity for parents to add children to sessions at the present time. If, nearer half term, it looks like Lockdown might not finish after all, we will be in touch again to see if you wish to change arrangements for March.
Brighten Up Winter Day
We are holding a non uniform day for the chidlren attending school. This will be held next Friday with the theme Brighten Up Winter – so anything bright and cheerful will be ideal. The charge for the non uniform day is 50p which will go towards FOWS/Team Woolley projects for the school.
Hopefully last week’s certificates have now found their way through your letterboxes. Here are this week’s lucky recipients….
- Cranford Class: Mason – counting all the objects in his small pot. He managed to fit 16 in!; Thomas – drawing and painting all the planets in the correct order.
- Burscott Class: Mollie-Jo – great effort with Remote Learning; Jacob – trying hard with his number bonds in maths
- Stroxworthy Class: Olivia – always trying her best and applying her knowledge in maths; Joseph – superb effort and understanding with verbs in English
- Alminstone Class: Maisie – amazing slide show advertising a Roman Villa; Morgan – a really interesting sales pitch for a Roman Villa with a great use of persuasive language
- Ashmansworthy Class: Oliver – Outstanding effort with Remote Learning this week; Dan – superb effort with his Remote Learning every day